Feb. 28, ’10, update: Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, Martin Scorsese’s thriller Shutter Island has remained at the top of the U.S. and Canada box office chart for the second weekend in a row (Feb. 26–28), collecting $22.2 million at 3,003 locations, according to studio estimates released Sunday. Average: $7,393 per theater.

Shutter Island, the no. 1 movie at the domestic box office all through this past week, has grossed an impressive $75 million after only ten days. As previously reported, the thriller is expected to become the highest-grossing Martin Scorsese-Leonardo DiCaprio collaboration to date.

For comparison’s sake, here are the total domestic grosses (not adjusted for inflation) of their three previous efforts:

Despite much (well-timed) publicity surrounding Kevin Smith getting kicked out of an airplane because he was too heavy too fly, new entry Cop Out failed to grab the top spot at the weekend box office.

The cop comedy featuring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan had to settle for no. 2 with a good $18.5 million as found at boxofficemojo.com – but, at 3,150 theaters, a just okay $5,894 average. For comparison’s sake: As seen further up, Shutter Island‘s average on its second weekend out was $7,393 at 3,003 sites.

Not helping matters, Cop Out‘s Saturday and Sunday figures were less than impressive. Next weekend, expect a heavy drop for this movie about two cops hunting down a gang of murderers while trying to find a stolen baseball card.

Remake of George A. Romero cult classic in third spot

Another new entry, Breck Eisner’s horror remake The Crazies, landed in the third spot, collecting $16.5 million at 2,476 venues – a good $6,672 per-theater average.

‘Avatar’ breaks domestic box office record – sort of

Up for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, Avatar took in $14 million at no. 4, a small 14 percent drop from the previous weekend.

Expect a more significant drop next weekend, as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, starring Mia Wasikowska and Johnny Depp, will be replacing Avatar at numerous IMAX and 3D theaters.

Whatever happens, James Cameron’s sci-fi adventure has already passed the $700 million milestone at the domestic box office. Avatar‘s cume currently stands at $706.9 million. That’s a first, though Avatar is still trailing a number of other movies (e.g., Gone with the Wind, Jaws, Star Wars) in terms of actual ticket sales.

‘Valentine’s Day’ passes $100 million milestone

Percy Jackson & the Olympians must perform amazingly well overseas and in ancillary venues in order to recover its budget, as about half of what it earns at the domestic box office goes to exhibitors. Also, marketing/distribution costs aren’t included in the studios’ reported production price tag.

Percy Jackson was closely followed by Garry Marshall’s all-star ensemble Valentine’s Day, which collected $9.5 million at no. 6, for a $100.3 million cume. The romantic comedy-drama stars, among others:

‘The Wolfman,’ ‘Tooth Fairy’ still among Top Ten

The no. 7 movie was Lasse Hallström’s romantic melodrama Dear John, with $5 million and $72.6 million to date – or nearly three times its reported budget. Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins, and Henry Thomas star.

Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman, toplining Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins, was next with $4.1 million for a grand total of $57.2 million. Not good for a Universal release that cost between $110-$150 million. The modestly budgeted 1941 The Wolf Man starred Lon Chaney Jr. and Claude Rains.

20th Century Fox’s Dwayne Johnson kiddie comedy Tooth Fairy, which always performs better on weekends despite having already lost quite a bit of steam, scored $3.4 million at no. 9, reaching a total gross of $53.8 million. Reported budget: $48 million. Also in the cast: veteran Julie Andrews (Hawaii, Thoroughly Modern Millie).

And rounding out the Top Twelve were the Sandra Bullock sleeper blockbuster The Blind Side, with another $1.2 million, and the Denzel Washington post-apocalyptic drama The Book of Eli, with $1.1 million.

More on ‘Avatar’: Staggering international box office gross

Overseas, Avatar remained at the top of the box office chart for the 11th consecutive weekend, taking in $36.1 million from 6,535 venues in 70 territories. Its worldwide total is a staggering $2.55 billion.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Avatar‘s no. 1 market this weekend was Japan ($4 million), though France remains the top market overall, with a total of $169 million to date.

Last weekend, Avatar became the no. 14 all-time blockbuster in the latter country (in ticket sales), trailing David Lean’s multiple Oscar-winning 1957 war epic The Bridge on the River Kwai, starring Alec Guinness and William Holden. By now, Avatar may well have already crossed that bridge.

Besides, according to Yonhap News Avatar has become South Korea’s biggest blockbuster ever, having surpassed the number of tickets sold by Bong Joon-ho’s 2006 monster movieThe Host. 20th Century Fox Korea has announced that James Cameron’s cultural phenomenon has sold more than 13.01 million admissions ($87.3 million) up to Saturday afternoon. The movie opened in South Korea in December.

As mentioned further up, next weekend Avatar will likely suffer a significant box office drop in North America and in most other top film markets, as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland will be replacing it at numerous IMAX and 3D theaters. 20th Century Fox is reportedly planning to rerelease Avatar – at least on U.S. screens – later this year.

‘The Ghost Writer’ with Tom Wilkinson and Olivia Williams: Things and people aren’t necessarily what they seem to be in Roman Polanski thriller.

‘The Ghost Writer,’ ‘A Prophet’: Limited release hits

Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island grossed (or rather, is grossing) millions this weekend in the U.S. and Canada. The same goes for Cop Out, The Crazies, Avatar, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, and Valentine’s Day. But forget these Hollywood flicks for a moment.

Or rather, approach the domestic box office data from a different angle and you’ll reach the conclusion that the top success stories of the weekend belong to two “small” movies: Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer and Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet.

After adding 41 screens, The Ghost Writer pulled in a remarkable $870,000, landing at no. 17 on the domestic box office chart. The political thriller’s per-theater average was a fantastic $20,233, the highest among the top 50 films.

A Prophet, winner of nine César Awards last night (Feb. 27) including Best Picture and Best Director, brought in $170,000 at nine sites. The prison drama’s $18,889 per-screen average was right behind that of The Ghost Writer (though in considerably fewer theaters; in other words, The Ghost Writer‘s box office feat was more impressive.)

Starring Best Actor César winner Tahar Rahim as a young hoodlum fighting for survival inside the walls of a French prison, A Prophet won the Grand Prix at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and is considered by many as one of the best movies made anywhere on the planet last year.

Michael Haneke & Shah Rukh Khan & Pedro Almodóvar

In other limited release news, Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon, along with The Prophet a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominee, earned $168,000 at 82 theaters. Total to date: $1.5 million.

And finally, Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces, starring Penélope Cruz, is still collecting a little change here and there. The classy noirish melodrama scored $38,000 this weekend for a total of $4.6 million.

‘Shutter Island’ tops Friday box office

Feb. 27 update:Shutter Island, the fourth Leonardo DiCaprio-Martin Scorsese collaboration, was the no. 1 movie at the U.S. and Canada box office on Friday (Feb. 26), according to studio estimates. The dark thriller grossed $6.67 million for a total of $59.5 million.

Trailing Shutter Island at no. 2, Kevin Smith’s comedy Cop Out, featuring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, took in less than initial estimates had indicated: $5.97 million ($1,897 per theater). A notch behind it was another new entry, Breck Eisner’s horror flick The Crazies, starring Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell, with $5.97 million ($2,411 per theater).

James Cameron’s sci-fi adventure Avatar, starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Sigourney Weaver, was no. 4 with $3.1 million – thus getting very close to the $700 million milestone which it should be crossing sometime today.

At no. 5, Garry Marshall’s all-star Valentine’s Day took in $2.94 million. The cast ranges from Taylor Lautner to Taylor Swift.

‘Alice in Wonderland’ armor: Mia Wasikowska goes to battle to fight for early DVD release rights.

‘Alice in Wonderland’ European boycott?

And here’s a different kind of controversy: Tim Burton’s 3D fantasy Alice in Wonderland, starring Mia Wasikowska as Alice, is facing some major hurdles with European exhibitors following distributor Walt Disney Studios’ announcement that its revamped version of Lewis Carroll’s tale would get an early DVD release.

Disney wants to release Alice in Wonderland on DVD less than three months after the film opens in theaters. Currently, the standard theater-to-DVD window is four months.

According to The Guardian, several major British exhibitors said they would boycott the film, a threat that has been taken up by some of their Dutch and Italian counterparts. Alice in Wonderland is scheduled to open in theaters around the world, including a number of European countries, on March 5.

Financial sacrifice

“We will lose money due to our decision; we expected [Alice in Wonderland] to become one of the most popular movies of 2010,” Youry Bredewold, a representative for Pathe and the National Board of Cinema Owners, told Agence France Presse. “But we decided we need to send a message to the whole industry: If you don’t accept our terms, we will never show your movies again.”

An ancillary problem: If Disney tries to accommodate foreign exhibitors, American theater owners could start making their own demands as well.

Some insiders, however, say that seems unlikely. Among other titles being released early this year are Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air, starring George Clooney, and Guy Ritchie’s blockbuster Sherlock Holmes, toplining Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.

The tale of a couple of cops (DiCaprio, Ruffalo) sent to an isolated island off Boston in 1954 to track down an escaped lunatic who may or may not be a serial killer, Shutter Island was a bigger domestic box office hit than some had expected, grossing an estimated $40.2 million this weekend (Feb. 19–21) – quite a bit above the $35 million estimates released late last week.

The atmospheric thriller with supernatural elements also scored an excellent $13,440 average at 2,991 theaters. Not bad at all for an R-rated release.

Biggest Martin Scorsese-Leonardo DiCaprio hit-in-the-making?

Shutter Island is now expected to become the highest-grossing Martin Scorsese-Leonardo DiCaprio effort. Here are the domestic first weekend box office grosses (not adjusted for inflation) of their previous collaborations:

If adjusted for inflation, however, the Dec. 1997 debut of James Cameron’s Titanic, starring DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, did more business: $49.22 million at 2,674 theaters – thus remaining ahead of Shutter Island as well.

Mixed reviews

To some extent a sort of Alfred Hitchcock homage, Shutter Island opened at the Berlin Film Festival a few days ago.

In The Guardian, Andrew Pulver wasn’t that thrilled with the thriller:

Shutter Island is an out-of-body pastiche to rival New York, New York, Scorsese’s attempt to make a Vincente Minnelli musical. One thing Hitchcock wouldn’t have done, though, is throw in sledgehammer replicas of shots from his previous movies: Shutter Island contains a shower scene (Psycho), a clambering-up-very-tall-building scene (Vertigo) and a scrambling-precariously-up-rocks scene (North by Northwest). There were probably many more, but the plot is so complicated it’s tricky to keep your attention on both at the same time.

Also unimpressed was Andy Klein at Brand X, complaining that Shutter Island “is mostly enjoyable along the way … until the final 15 minutes or so pulls the rug out from under us and retroactively soils much of that enjoyment.”

The San Francisco Chronicle‘s Mick LaSalle goes a step further, affirming that “if Martin Scorsese weren’t aware of himself as a great filmmaker, he could never have made a movie as bad as Shutter Island.”

In the Los Angeles Times, Betsy Sharkey was more enthusiastic, calling Shutter Island “a divinely dark and devious brain tease of a movie in the best noir tradition with its smarter than you’d think cops, their tougher than you’d imagine cases to crack and enough nods to the classic genre for an all-night parlor game.”

Perhaps even more enthusiastic was Roger Ebert, opening his review with:

Shutter Island starts working on us with the first musical notes under the Paramount logo’s mountain, even before the film starts. They’re ominous and doomy. So is the film. This is Martin Scorsese’s evocation of the delicious shuddering fear we feel when horror movies are about something and don’t release all the tension with action scenes.

‘Valentine’s Day’ plummets

As found at Boxofficemojo.com, Garry Marshall’s all-star Valentine’s Day suffered a steep drop – 70 percent – from last weekend.

Except for Monday, Presidents Day, when it trailed Chris Columbus’ adventure flick Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Valentine’s Day was the top movie all through last week. This weekend, however, the romantic comedy-drama trailed Shutter Island at a distant no. 2, with $17.1 million and an okay $4,682 per site.

Made for a reported $52 million, Valentine’s Day has grossed $87.4 million after only 10 days. In the extensive cast:

‘Avatar’ suffers steepest drop to date

Avatar was the no. 3 movie with $16.1 million, a 32 percent drop – its steepest since James Cameron’s environmentally conscious sci-fier opened ten weekends ago. (Last weekend’s North American box office figures were stronger than usual because of the Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day combo.)

Avatar is up for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. To date, it has grossed $687 million. In the cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, and three-time Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver.

At no. 4 this weekend, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, starring Logan Lerman, raked in $15.3 million for a cume of $58.7 million.

Next in line was Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman, starring Oscar winners Benicio Del Toro (Best Supporting Actor for Traffic, 2000) and Anthony Hopkins (Best Actor for The Silence of the Lambs, 1991). The horror drama brought in $9.8 million.

Dwayne Johnson’s Tooth Fairy – which, like Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel and The Spy Next Door invariably performs much better on weekends – did okay at no. 7, earning $4.5 million on its fifth outing. Veteran Julie Andrews (The Tamarind Seed, 10) has a key supporting role in the film.

Best Actor Oscar nominee George Clooney’s Up in the Air, also featuring Best Supporting Actress nominees Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga, with $1 million.

‘My Name Is Khan’ has third highest average, ‘The Ghost Writer’ has strong platform release

At 125 screens, Shah Rukh Khan’s My Name Is Khan was no. 17 on the U.S. and Canada box office chart, pulling in $720,000 and $5,760 per venue – the third-highest average among the top 20 films, after Shutter Island and Avatar.

Throughout last week, the controversial Bollywood drama consistently boasted the highest per-theater average among the Top 20. Directed by Karan Johar and costarring Kajol, My Name Is Khan has grossed $3.2 million to date.

Also this weekend, at only four theaters in Los Angeles and New York, Roman Polanski’s widely praised political thriller The Ghost Writer – winner of the Best Director Silver Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival – took in $179,000, or an astounding $44,750 per theater.

‘Shutter Island’ tops Friday

Feb. 20:Valentine’s Day may lure considerably fewer filmgoers this weekend, but don’t expect holdover Avatar to soar to the top of the domestic box office chart. James Cameron’s sci-fi adventure is headed to its 10th successful weekend, but the big winner will be the latest Martin Scorsese-Leonardo DiCaprio collaboration, Shutter Island.

Shutter Island surpassed expectations on Friday (Feb. 19), grossing an estimated $14.1 million. The creepy crime thriller scored an excellent $4,714 average at 2,991 theaters. In fact, Shutter Island is expected to become the highest-grossing Scorsese-DiCaprio effort to date.

Garry Marshall’s all-star Valentine’s Day was a distant no. 2 on Friday, with $5.68 million and $1,550 per screen. Chris Columbus’ Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief was next with $3.97 million, followed by Avatar with $3.9 million.

Rounding out the Top Six movies were Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman with $2.85 million and the Channing Tatum-Amanda Seyfried romantic melodrama Dear John with $2.35 million.

Save my name and email in this browser for the next time I submit a comment.

IMPORTANT: By using this form you agree with the storage and handling of your data by Alt Film Guide. Also, make sure your comment adds something relevant to the discussion; *thoughtfulness* and *at least a modicum of sanity* are imperative. Abusive/bigoted, trollish/inflammatory, baseless (spreading misinformation, whether intentionally or not), spammy, and/or just plain deranged comments will be zapped. And finally, links found in submitted comments will generally be deleted.

6 comments

Emanuel -

This movie was amazing. I was puzzle the whole time while in the theatres but men it was a good one…

My starring role will be replaced with a rabbit? I just LOVED having a movie that has a character with MY name! Well, I guess I can’t complain too much, as I have a name associated with a movie that made over $700 million in the US.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. If you continue browsing, that means you've accepted our Terms of Use/use of cookies. You may also click on the Accept button on the right to make this notice disappear. AcceptRead More